How To Build Big Shoulders

Vince, most of your material and ebooks warn against overworking a isolated muscle group, i.e “Shoulders day”, “arms day” etc, but so many of your blog posts are about doing just that, like this shoulder workout!

How could I include this shoulder workout into your No Nonsense Bodybuilding workouts without stuffing things up?

Vince, I want your advice about how to determine appropriate weight of dumbells to start with my shoulder exercises?

Vince, awesome workout
What I’ve been doing recently for shoulders which has really added on some size is an overhead pressing routine with around 80% of my max weight, structured as follows:
from starting postion, with the bar rested on your clavical pecs and a wider than usual grip, do 5 reps slowly and controlled
after completion with no rest period narrow you’re grip a bit and bang out 5 more then after that you move you’re grip to an even more narrow position (roughly 30cm apart) and complete 5 more.
4 sets of this is enough to really kill you’re shoulders

Wicked stuff Vince… That is pretty close to a shoulder workout I have been doing for years, although that one is a little tougher I must say.

Love the videos too man, they are so much better than just text articles!

Regards, Clayton
Personal Trainer | Adelaide, Australia

I love the delt triad for big cannonball shoulders;

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article//the_delt_triad_round_shoulders_fast

your one looks good, might try that one once I’ve squeezed all the gains I can from the triad!

Great stuff Vince! Any recommendations for those of us with shoulder problems? Just start with lighter weights and work my way up from there? Almost 20 years later, I now realize why they tell young kids not to throw the curveball (although mine was nasty!)

Just wondering if you can clear up thes 2 point you made:

1-Add 5 pounds each circuit
2-Start 5 pounds heavier each workout

Am I understanding this right?…do one curcuit - rest 2 mins - then add 5lbs - rest and add another 5 pounds?

or

Do you mean add 5lbs each workout?

Thanks.

Both. So the weight you do on the second set, you will do on the first set next time e.g.

Workout 1: Set 1:50 Set 2:55 Set 3:60
Workout 2: Set 1:55 Set 2:60 Set 3:65@Fabio -

Cant wait to implement this routine into my BootCamp class. Another word if anyone is struggling with getting there shoulders to pop. Train them twice a week with at least 2 day of rest bewteen. It worked for me!!

Hi Vince ! A quickie question :

I notice from the video that you are lifting at a much faster tempo than your more-often-than-not recommended 311 in NNMB and you aren’t taking the exercises to failure. Is this circuit to be treated as a lighter, higher reps conditioning circuit like your abdominal circuit in upside-down training ?

Thanks ! NNMB rocks !

The video DB’s are too light and I would decrease the reps to 6-8, rest 30 seconds and then continue.

I have the opposite problem, my shoulders are big and my chest needs more growth. I mix my shoulders in with other exercises depending on the cycle of routines I am doing. Right now it is Chest/Shoulders/Abs, for the shoulder portion near the end of the workout is:

Standing Military Press: 2 sets, 5 - 7 reps
1-Arm Standing Dumbbell Side Laterals: 1 set, 10 - 12reps

Do these heavy and to failure and you are done! My other cycles call for DB Presses, but the laterals stay the same. You can also do seated two-arm lateral raises, but be sure to keep your thumbs pointing downward and your arms a little more forward than Vince in the video. Concentrate on the form with laterals and go resist the weight coming down, it really makes a difference!

Why no rear delt raises? You get plenty of stimulation on other heavy lifts like the bench press, so if you do add them, just do one set to failure. Like anything, good form with heavy weights will get you results.

Vince: We need to workout together, you build my chest and I’ll build your shoulders! LOL

Great Video Vince, Will try it on my next SHOULDERS DAY….
Pls put in more such videos

Hi coach! Is it realy adviseable to take a cold shower after workout?
why?

Hey Vince,

I love that workout as well. I have been doing that as my “Shoulder Blaster” at the end of my normal shoulders and traps workout. Only one set of 10 reps each continuously and then shower.

So my routine is something like:
BB Mili Press 3 x 6 to 8
BB Shrugs 3 x 6 to 8
DB Shoulder Press 3 x 6 to 8
DB Shrugs 2 or 3 x 6 to 8
Shoulder Blaster 1 set x 5 Exercises x 10 reps

By the time I get to the “Blaster” I virtually have another 2 or 3 mins of lifting left in me so it suits me fine to “wipe” me out as well as give the “psychological” and physical pump to go home!

Paulo

@Paulo -
Hi there:
When you say “Shoulder Blaster” is that the same as “Shoulder Horn”?

wow VINCE you can actually shoulder press 90 pounds?? Thats unbelivable buddy you really dont look like you got that much strenght in ya :)!

@Cerebral Assasin - You mean 90lb DB’s? If so, that is some good weight!

Just a quick note. I have been working at really making my shoulders rounder. My lagging part is my rear deltoids.

One of the new exercises I use to really isolate is a reverse fly on a sit down upright fly machine.

If you have access to this, try it out. Also try doing one arm at a time and avoid too much momentum.

@Joey - You can also put a bench at a 60 degree angle (or around that) and try and keep your chest tight up against the bench, then do the rear delt raises. Try it and do it slow squeezing at the top. (Arnold used to lay on one side on at an incline and do one arm at a time across his body for side laterals, so if you also want to try that to isolate those medial (side) delts, try that).

@Vince - That must be newer because an older video has you doing 75’s, so good improvement Vince!

hey vince, the delts is also a lagging body part for me and my workout looks something like this:

smith machine militay press: 4 pyramind sets 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
Dumbbell press: 4 pyramind sets 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
upright rows: 3 pyramid sets 12, 10, 8 reps
lateral raises: 2-3 sets x 10 reps
bent over raises: 2-3 sets x 10 reps
Any tips to help me make mass gains?

Second, ive been making strength gains in my biceps but not really mass gains. Do you think you could give me a tips to solve my problem? My workout looks somthing like this:

Barbell curls: 3 pyramid sets 10, 8 ,6 reps
Incline dumbell/Hammer curls: pyramid sets 10, 8, 8 reps
Underhand/Hammer Cable curls: pyramid sets 10, 8, 8 reps.

i would really appreciate your help and if you guys out there have a solution feel free to voice it out. Thanks!

Here is my video CHEEK THIS OUT, they are some rare exercices!

@Nastase Raducu - Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb5EBi_rZ-E&feature=channel_page BLAST THE SHOULDERS!

tried the ‘delt triad’ workout just a few minutes ago. Holy S**T. I can barely lift my arms up now. I can usually DB press 15kg but at the end of this I could hardly do 12×6.5kg. Awesome workout.

@Vince - ok thanks Vince.

First just wanted to check with you: isnt the 5 rep range more for building strength rather than mass. Because im already making strength gains with my current routine.

Second, am i overtraining my shoulders with the workout i had stated earlier. If so, should i increase the intensity and decrease the volume? And how would you recommend i increase the intensity in this case to increase mass? Thanks

vince, your site is the one i have been lookin for. i tried your shoulder blaster just recently and man! i feel good, really good. my sleeping muscles were all popping like popcorns, hahaha. inflamed feeling though but yeah, i stretched and everythin is fine. i think i didnt like it, huh i love it! thanks man! thanks for the unending emails and the videos. thanks thanks thanks

Vince, can you please tell me how many times should I train each muscle from all angles each week. For example If I if will do all the exercises mentioned above for the shoulders “Five Killer Shoulders” in one time work out. How many times should I repeat the same exercise during the same week.

ok thats great but, how many days at week i should do it??? maybe 3-4 (monday- wednesday-friday) or i could do it every single day???

probably maximum 2. You dont want to overwork your shoulders otherwise they wont have time to recover

Hey Vince, I was just wondering about how often should i be training my shoulders, as I hear from different sources different answers. Thanks.

Hey Vince, i have to hand it to you man these shoulder workouts are killer before i found out about the bent over raises and the upright rows i just used to do shoulder press,military press,front raises,and side raises, but now ever since ive included your other workouts into my shoulder routine i’m able to lift more weight every week or 2 an my freinds are telling me that im getting bigger and i’m like really because i dont see it myself and because of the fact that i look at myself everyday so its hard to tell but i appreaciate these new workouts thanks again man.

Great video Vince! I feel really with shoulders you just need the 4 staple exercises. Shoulder press. lateral raise, front raise, rear delt raise. I just keep these fresh by mixing up rep schemes and whether or not I use dumbells, barbells, cables or machines. Keep it buddy!

Dear Mr. Del Monte,

This newsletter with the shoulder exercises is awesome!

I’ve shared this with my online exercise community!

Do you know that you are a genius?

All of the women were moaning that while losing body fat they are all losing their chest. Putting it delicately. But I kept telling everyone that just look at any bodybuilder like Vince Del Monte or like Hugo Rivera, Tom Venuto, keep going with any big-name bodybuilder, the MEN have massive chests.

I have your exercise helper with the little action man who does the exercise for the muscle group, but VINCE!!! Why don’t you make a program for women to build their pecs? Don’t be embarrassed, if you were at a club and women wondered “if they were real” then you KNOW women would do your program to build their pecs because We Want That Result. And forget the shoulders…I just want the pecs.

For some reason if you aren’t interested in making a program for us to build our pecs and save our shapes without implants and embarrassing surguries, then just email me back with your top ideas so I can do this at home myself.

I’m doing pushups, pullups, chinups, rows, deadlift (all with dumbbells) and whatever else I’m doing. Oh, yes, the lawnmower pull, presses and lots of planks and now the ab-wheel-type plank rollouts.

Make a program for me to buy. You’re fantastic. Thank you!
Sincerely,
K.B.

hi

i been working out for sometime now an can not seem to put any mass on, i’m getting stronger day by day still can’t put any weight on, you any suggestions for me.

Hi Vince i’ve been following your advice in those newsletters i must say they really helped a lot in getting rid of that belly fat. However can i ask if using one arm for doing exercises is more effective, i mean like ur concentrating effort into only one shoulder at a time instead of two, so you should be able to lift heavier weights and gain muscle right? Im not too sure, but right now im doing bodyweight exercises with one limb cause i dun have access to the gym and also cant afford weights yet

I dont think body weight exercises builds big muscles, because i can do lots of it but still quite skinny. Any alternatives?

Thanks alot!!

Hey ,Vince. Thanks alot for all of the videos, my arms have been getting bigger and thicker, and im gettin stronger. But i dont have very heavy dumb bells so i use a barbell shoulder press with heavy weight, is that good or should i invest in heavy dumbbells?

Hi Vince,

Just want to ask you a question. If I have done the exercise and have already felt the strain on my arms, is is alright for me to do the same exercise again tomorrow? Will it cause any harm or overstretch the muscle?

Thsnks.

Vince this work out is Tough man i tried it out at the GYM and by the end of it hardly could i manage to reach the end ohhhhh it hurts (Shoulders)

I can barely take my shirt off after this workout. Add a few sets of it and you won’t be able to wash your hair too.

hi vince just checked out your 5 exercise routine wot else would you do on your shoulder day if training a body part a day .. thanks

HI MATE JUST A QUICK ONE I WAS TELLING MY COUSIN ABOUT YOU DOING THE 90LB DB PRESS AND WE WERE ARGUING ABOUT YOUR BODY WEIGHT AT THE TIME CAN YOU SETTLE THIS CHEERS

Hi but!!

Looking Good!!!

I think any person can look good, The secret - Hard work!!!

Cheers mate - dont kiss to many girls!!

hehe

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I find the “Body For Life” method works well:

Side Raise:

12 reps light weights
1 min rest
10 reps medium weight
1 min rest
8 reps medium/heavy
1 min rest
6 reps heavy as you can take
1 min rest
12 reps medium weight
no rest
12 reps same muscle group, bent over raises, barbell/dumbell shoulder press

Shoulder press in action (video): http://bodybuildingvids.com/77.html

Hey Vince, I do handstand push ups tucking my head towards my chest and away from my throat so that i get a good trap and delt workout without suffocating or getting a headache i started off a year ago with 8 reps and 2 sets and i can do 60 reps and 2 sets now, that’s more than my regular pushups and my traps have gotten massive and my delts as well. I take about a 2 minute rest between sets then go into 4 sets of 4 reps doing shoulder press. thanks for this workout im going to try it out, tomorrow is my upper body day.

So let me get this right.

Continuous circuit
10-15 reps
3 sets
2 minute rest between circuits
Add 5 pounds each circuit
Start 5 pounds heavier each workout

This means that after 5 weeks, if you started with only 10lb you’d be Arnold Pressing 35lb for the first set and 45lb for the third set! You’d need to be Arnold wouldn’t you? I know I’m a Hardgainer but it takes me months to increase by 5lb. If my set consists of 12 reps to failure, I have to wait until I can increase my reps to 18 before failure before I can consider upping the weight by 5lb, otherwise I simply can’t do it. On a continuous circuit like this
(I think you can call it supersetting, pyramid supersets) I would start with a lowish weight 7.5kg (16.5lbs) because you have to do flies as well, which are harder than presses, and work through using the same weight for all. Easy to start with, but as the superset wore on, the muscles tire and find it more difficult (the whole idea, I know), so I just don’t see adding 5lb each workout as realistic, not for the Average Joe or Jane anyway. Hey, I’d like to think i could do it, but I know I wouldn’t. You probably recognise I’ve taken a few phrases from your friend? Jeff Anderson as I’ve taken up his Hardgainer routine. I do like your Shoulder exercise though, hence my interest. I do it on my off days, so Hardgainer Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Shoulders Tuesday, Thursday. I’m not overtraining am I?
Best Regards Al

My husbadn started this program a little over 3 weeks ago. He’s loking more tone, and stronger. I love it! I have never been more attracted to him. There isnt a moment that I dont wanna grab those huge shoulders and kiss him. Thank you vincent for making him gorgeous!

Hi Vince.

I am a dad with 12 year twins boys. One is an athlete (baseball) wherein I’d like to incease his strenght (pitching and catching). I’d like to increase his daily calory intake and impletment a lifting program for both of my 12 year old’s. Any recommendations?

Cameron from Scottsdale, AZ